Once again, Bill Belichick has figured out a way to cheat the system. And once again, he caught the NFL standing there sucking their collective thumbs.

The New England Patriots reportedely have hired St. Louis Rams offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels to be their new offensive assistant. Nothing wrong there. What’s wrong is McDaniels reportedly can start immediately and help the Patriots during their playoff run.

This is the 2011 season. McDaniels finished the 2011 season as the Rams’ offensive coordinator. He got his chance to contribute this year. His Rams scored an embarrassing 12.1 points per game, making them easily the league’s lowest scoring offense. His season should be finished.

Should Houston defeat Cincinnati today (its 7-7 early in the second quarter) and the Broncos beat the Pittsburgh Steelers tomorrow at Sports Authority Field at Mile High, the Broncos would play at New England next week (probably Saturday night) in a second-round playoff game.

No coach outside of the Dove Valley building knows the 2011 Broncos better than McDaniels. He may know Tim Tebow better than John Fox knows Tebow.

People around here and St. Louis might not think much of McDaniels’ coaching ability. But I’m telling you this is a smart football coach. This is a talented person. He may not be a leader of men, but he is good enough as a coach/talent evaluator to give the Pats a decided competitive advantage against the Broncos, if it should come to that.

And it’s not just the Broncos who should cry foul. Among playoff teams, McDaniels’ Rams also played this season the New York Giants, Green Bay Packers, New Orleans Saints, San Francisco 49ers (twice) from the NFC, and Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers from the AFC.

That’s eight playoff teams that have just suffered a competitive disadvantage, however small, against the Pats.

There may be no rule against McDaniels working immediately for the Pats. But this clearly violates the spirit of fair competition. It’s so Belichick. It’s so McDaniels, for that matter.

All the Pats have to do is hire away Steve Scarnecchia from Syracuse and the whole cheating gang gets back together.

Come on, Mr. Goodell. Exercise those commissioner power and put a stop to this.

First of all, in this case, the Pats may be gaining a competitive advantage because of McDaniels’ obvious familiarity with many of the Broncos’ players. He’s also the guy who was the Pats’ offensive coordinator during Tom Brady’s record-setting, MVP season in 2007. With current coordinator Bill O’Brien likely to be preoccupied with his new, concurrent duties as Penn State’s recently hired head coach, it’s not far-fetched to predict that McDaniels could play a major role in game-planning and calling plays for as long as the Pats are in the postseason. The league should be especially concerned about this potential competitive edge given that both Belichick and McDaniels have been linked to cheating scandals in the past five years – if nothing else, it’s a very bad look. I also object to this move out of principle. The 2011 season should be treated as a separate entity, and if a coach such as McDaniels wants to line up a new gig, it should be effective after the team in question’s final game of this season. That’s certainly the spirit of the rule that applies to players, who are saddled with a mid-October trade deadline and, after that, are at the mercy of their employers’ kind-heartedness (as Kyle Orton was in surprisingly securing his Broncos release from Elway) and a waiver system before choosing their same-season relocation scenario. Finally, I wonder what kind of precedent this might set. For example, after Todd Haley got fired as the Chiefs’ head coach in mid-December, the Broncos could have hired him as an offensive consultant before their regular-season-ending game against Kansas City. Or maybe Haley – who’s reportedly headed back to Arizona – can come aboard and join Fox’s staff now, if only so he can be dispatched to shake hands with his old buddy McDaniels after Saturday’s game

In Response to Re: Let the crying begin. : How ironic. This was during the time Denver falsely submitted Elway and Terrell Davis's contracts to the NFL, paying them their real salary AFTER each the 1997 and 1998 seasons, so they could sign players to help their weak spots in signing really good FAs. LMAO I love how no one cares signing quality FAs and cheating the cap for personnel advantages over 16 games, 2 seasons in a row, yet Goodell enforcing a scouting rule with video is somehow so bad, the witch hunt element of it literally continues YEARS later. You just can't make this stuff up if you tried. Only the Pats were in violation of a never enforced rule before and Denver didn't intend to cheat the cap by hiding the real salaries of two star players in 1997 and 1998.Posted by RidingWithTheKingII

yeah, they don't mention any of that. denver is one of the last teams to talk about anyone else bending any rules. they are getting destroyed on saturday, either way. `

OK, let me get this straight: There isn't a league rule against what BB did in hiring McD but there SHOULD be? Why? Because BB did something that is totally within the rules and incredibly smart (revolutionary, what?). More claptrap.

Rusty is right, Belichick once again exploits a non-rule by hiring a coach who just got fired in St Louis which makes him un-employed and people suddenly realize there is no rule and on dumb blind hate alone make a huge leap from realizing there is no rule and that they dont like that to ITS CHEATING! laughable. I leave for a few months and its still just crazy sh*t all over the place.

I love that McDanials is back on the staff and I love that people hate BB for doing it. Embrace the hate for life

Its strange, I dont notice any of these "cheating" news reports when the patriots cut a player, and the team they are playing that week pick them up. Seems like the same EXACT situation to me.Posted by ChasaB

Not Arguing, but it's not really ther same MckyD came from the RAMS - two years removed from the Bronks. If the Rams where in the playoffs and let Mcky go that would be different.... although If you ARE in the playoffs, why would you release a coach..